BY ROGER M. BALANZA
Monthly Archives: February 2012
Vice Mayor Rody Duterte to make Davao City crime-free for New7Wonders Cities contest
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For Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Davao City must be crime-free if it has to be recognized as one of the wonder cities of the world.
And as other cities spruce up in time for the March 7 deadline of the Campaign for the New7Wonders Cities, Duterte would be doing his own thing amid the rising crime index in the city and is asking Dabawenyos to give him time to eliminate the criminals.
We have to clean Davao City first, he said in the Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa television program on ABS/CBN-Davao.
Davao City along with Zamboanga City and General Santos City are among Mindanao cities listed as nominees in the contest by the Europe-based organizers of New7Wonders, who are behind two other contests: Man-made New7Wonders of the World and the New7Wonders of Nature.
The campaign allows internet voters to nominate their favorite cities from over 1,200 nominees, from January 7 to March 7, 2012.
Up to 300 cities, consisting of one city per country plus the 77 cities that will be voted in Phase 1, will qualify for Phase 2, which will run from March 7 to November 23, 2012. There will be 28 Official City Finalists which will be selected between November 23 and December 6. The voting of the finalists will be done for a year, from December 7, 2012, and the winners will be announced on December 7, 2013.
Duterte said law and order is very important factor in the popularity of a city. It was primarily because of the city’s outstanding peace and order that made it one of the most livable cities in the country.
To ensure he achieves his mission of a crime-free city, Duterte ordered police station commanders to go all-out against the criminals, with a dire warning.
Just one holdup case wherein the holdupper was not caught or killed, I will transfer the station commander, Duterte said.
Duterte, who has the habit of conducting his own street patrol incognito, twitted cops who go on patrol in groups.
Police officers should avoid patrolling the city in groups so they can cover as much area as possible considering the size of the city, he said. ROGER M. BALANZA
Globe, Smart rapped for derailing Davao City peace and order
Telecom giants Smart and Globe not only insulted the Davao City government and the Dabawenyos when they tinkered with the phone number, 911, that is the public’s access to Emergency Response Center Central 911.
They also derailed our peace and order, a fuming Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said on television. He said City Hall and the public were not informed about the move.
Duterte said he would ask the Davao City Council to summon Smart and Globe to answer public complaints that 911, the number that links to the Central 911, no longer works or has been changed.
He said he would go to court to charge the telecoms with “contempt of legislative authority” if they fail to respond to the summon.
Smart and Globe telecommunications made changes in accessing the 911 which is apart from the original agreement that the contact be simplified by directly dialing 911, said Duterte in the Gikan sa Masa Para sa Masa television program on ABS/CBN.
He said he received complaints from Dabawenyos that Central 911 can no longer be reached through the cellular phone.
Duterte said Smart added an asterisk before 911 while Globe no longer recognizes the number.
He moaned that the ‘discourtesy’ about not informing the local government on the changes came despite help he extended to the telecoms in relation to their problems with communist rebels.
Elsewhere in the Davao Region, the New People’s Army had the habit of torching transmission facilities of the two telecoms.
These companies asked me to appeal to the communist New People’s Army not to burn their transmission towers and they saved millions of pesos, he said. ROGER M. BALANZA
DAVAO CITY GOVERNMENT TO LEGALIZE BUSINESS SQUATTING ON CITY FORESHORE PROPERTY
Assessor setting amount of
lease for Emars, Queensland
The Davao City Assessors Office is now conducting assessment of businesses in the 24-hectare Recreation Area also known as Times Beach, to determine the value of lease with the local government.
The Davao City government now has management control over the area declared as city government property under Proclamation No. 20 issued by the late President Ramon Magsaysay in 1954.
The Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) have said they are abandoning whatever rights they have on the shoreline property, now occupied by beach resorts restaurants and small businesses.
The turnaround of the PRA and DENR, which earlier required reclamation permits and foreshore lease agreements on businesses which occupied the area, effectively placed control and management of the property to the local government.
Rather than propose eviction, the Davao City Council has recommended the property be leased out to present occupants to raise much needed revenues.
Emars which has built a wavepool and an hotel and Queensland which constructed a Baywalk on portions of area the biggest investors in the Recreation Area.
An Appraisal Committee that includes the assessors office has been formed to conduct a survey, said a source at the City Asessors.
The recommendation of the Appraisal Committee would be used as basis in determining the value of the lease, said the source privy to the Times Beach issue.
Mayor Sara Duterte earlier had been requested by the Council Committee on Housing, Rural and Urban Development chaired by councilor Arnolfo Cabling to convene the Appraisal Committee to determine the lease.
The next step would be for the existing businesses to enter into a lease agreement with City Hall, to place an end to the controversial issue of illegal occupation in the Recreation Area. ROGER M. BALANZA
Sporting world – dAVAO CITY – DBL-PHOENIX INVITATIONAL
VMO beat Goldstar for win No. 4
Vice Mayor’s Office turned back Goldstar Hardware, 86 – 78, in a tough contest Saturday night in the ongoing DBL-Phoenix Petroleum 36-Above Invitational Basketball Tournament at the Davao City Recreation Center Almendras Gym.
Hotshot Christopher “Bong” Go took charge early and the supporting cast made the final push as the City Council-based dribblers copped their fourth win in five games and placed solo second in the race behind Top Agro (5-1).
Cadel Mosqueda, Marvin Mondigo and lefty Jason Tan played big time, combining with 26 points in the final period, to help the sweet-shooting Go who poured in 20 points in another great display of shooting prowess.
It was the six-foot-five Mosqueda, who came out unstoppable in the paint, turned out to be the better one among the subs as the former pro scored 10 of the VMO’s last 16 points, shooting a magnificent 10 out of 10 from the foul line.
Mosqueda finished the game with 14 points while Mondigo and Tan chipped in 17 and 13 points respectively for VMO which posted a three game winning run after losing to league leader Top Agro few weeks back.
Jonathan Soco had 24 points but failed to get enough support as Goldstar closed out their preliminary round with a loss, their second in the tournament sanctioned by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas Mindanao Cluster B under Regino “Boy” Cua.
Downed by 8, 20 – 28 midway of the second canto, VMO mounted a 15 – 2 run, behind Bong Go’s seven straight points opened with a right corner triple, to take the upper-hand, 35 – 30.
The first half ended with a deadlock 37-all and the see-saw battle continues in the third canto with VMO was just up by a hairline, 56 – 55, going to the pay off period.
A Bong Go triple midway of the fourth gave VMO a 66-62 lead and they never looked back as the subs went into shooting rampage to seal the win.
Winston Lim fired two triples for Goldstar which dropped to 5-2 which is good for third place in the standing.
Later in the evening, Top Agro cruised to its fifth win at the expense of PNP selection, 78 – 68.
The tournament is presented by Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. and organized by the Vice Mayor’s Office through the initiatives of Christopher “Bong” Go.
THE REFORMER COLUMN – DURIAN POST – LEAH LIBRADO ON TUITION FEE HIKES
THE REFORMER
BY LEAH LIBRADO
On tuition fee
There is an incessant
tuition fee hikes particularly of private schools all over the region
and the proposed round of increases to be implemented for school year
2012-2013.
For instance, one of the universities in the city is into a 6% hike
in tuition and energy fees which students are opposing because for
one, no “genuine and democratic” consultation has been initiated by
the administration to discuss such increase with the students.
Other schools or higher education institutions (HEIs) in Davao City
are also bent on increasing their tuition and other fees on grounds
that the increases will fund for facilities improvement and salaries
for their teachers. However, the real picture puts the students and
their parents who are paying for their studies in a dismal and
frustrating situation because private schools would anyway increase
their fees, with or without consultation and the consensus of the
students.
The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Memorandum Order No. 13,
series of 199 mandates that schools conduct consultations prior to
implementing any tuition fee increase or TFI. Said order also
stipulates that students may be represented in the said consultations.
On the tertiary (college) level, data from 2011 reveals that a lot of
schools have increased their
tuition fee for this school year. The CHEd expects around 2.6 million
college students in 1,792 in higher education institutions (HEIs)
nationwide.
We must note though, that enrollment in 2010- 2011 dropped
to 2,635,007 compared to 2,770,985 enrollees in 2009-2010. If the CHEd
keeps up with this trend, we can only expect more and more high school
graduates who will not be able to avail of tertiary education, even
for a semester.
For a student to finish a four-year course, one must spend at least
more than a hundred thousand pesos and if schools, especially those
with autonomous status, implements a 6-10% hike in tuition every
school year, the parents and the students are always at the losing
end.
The concerted efforts of students to oppose any plan to implement
increases in tuition and other fees may just fall on deaf ears if the
CHED continues its nonchalance and in reality, it eventually fails to
regulate higher education institutions not just in the city but all
over the region.
The future of a lot of students is at stake whenever
schools implement even a minimal increase.
(Librado is chairman of the Davao City Council
Committee on Education and the Committee on
Women, Children and Family relations)
BANANA REPUBLIC – DURIAN POST – COLUMN – NOEL BAGUIO
BANANA REPUBLIC
DavNor convergence team addresses barangay concerns
BY NOEL BAGUIO
Aside from bringing the services of the Capitol to identified barangays, the Davao del Norte Convergence for Peace and Development team also addressed the concerns and issues being raised by barangay officials.
At the second convergence outreach in Little Panay, Panabo City, last February 24, 2012, Gov. Rodolfo P. del Rosario assured to provide the necessary resources needed to fund the infrastructure projects requested by the village leaders.
The governor held the consultative forum with barangay officials, while thousands of residents availed of the medical and dental services, which now include free cancer screening, x-ray services and ECG, along with other basic services.
He assured that he will look for funds to finish the barangay covered court that was started years back, as well as, the construction of a new day care center and the riprapping of the drainage canal.
However, he said construction of new covered courts and other infrastructures that not aligned with his human-centered agenda P.E.O.P.L.E will not receive funding anymore.
He reiterated that the province this time is only funding those that are in line with his thrust on better health and education, as well as, more livelihood opportunities
But, 1003rd Infantry Brigade Commander Col. Lysander Suerte bared some of the projects requested by the barangay that were turned down by the governor, such as concreting of the barangay road, electrification and even the day care center, can be funded under the government’s PAMANA (PAyapa at MAsaganang PAmayanan) program.
He said that even though Little Panay no longer has insurgency problem, the barangay was still identified under the PAMANA program, which is the national government’s peace and development framework for empowering conflict-affected areas in the country.
Little Panay is the second among the 30 barangays included in the convergence program, out of 223 barangays of the province.
During this year’s first convergence program in Mabuhay, Carmen town, last February 17, 2012, the governor also assured to fund farm-to-market roads, water system, new school buildings and road opening connecting to Davao City.
THE DURIAN BEAT – DURIAN POST COLUMN
BY ROGER M. BALANZA
On liking DDS, disliking Nogie
Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte saying the Dabawenyos condoned the Davao Death Squad and wished for return of the gunmen to help curb crime is the “voice of God,” is expected to trigger reactions from Catholic Church leaders here.
The Church is in the forefront of the campaign against the hundreds of extrajudicial killings and had faulted the local leadership and police for the murders.
Now here is Duterte saying the hand of God could be behind the triggers of the 45s of the precise-shooting, motorcycle-riding assassins blamed for hundreds of victims.
Months ahead of the May 2010 elections, Davao City Archbishop Fernando Capalla had issued a Pastoral Letter, read prior to Mass in all churches in the city, condemning the killings with hints they were carried out with the blessings of local authorities.
Then Vice Mayor Sara Duterte, now the sitting mayor, was up in the mayoral race against former House Speaker Prospero Nograles. Then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte had former mayor Benjamin de Guzman in the vice mayoral fight.
The spiritual tone of the pastoral letter however was muddled by politics, when a top official of the archdiocese openly campaigned for Nograles and against the Dutertes
Fr. Pete Lamata, head of the Davao Archdiocese Social Action Center, even went to the point of allowing a campaign rally of Nograles inside his parish in Buhangin. The summary killing was a major issue leveled against the Dutertes.
Despite the mud-slinging, the Dutertes overwhelmingly trounced their rivals when the dust of the political battle settled down, Nograles losing by more than 220,000 votes, de Guzman eating dust and behind by more than 300,000 votes.
If the voice of the people is the voice of God, then the Dabawenyos’ loud call for the return of the Davao Death Squad (DDS) must be the “voice of God,” according to Duterte, commenting on a text survey that showed the Dabawenyos’ sentiments about the DDS, which had been lying low for sometime, and the resurgence of crime incidents in the city.
In the 2010 battle, no amount of dirty propaganda against the Dutertes shook the trust and confidence of the Dabawenyos on the Dutertes.
Dabawenyos saw lies and lies in the Nograles campaign, including the tall stories peddled by publicist Ed Malay of the Manila-based PR group, who was hired by Nograles to create a fake momentum of a Duterte defest through rigged and invented surveys showing a Nograles victory.
Malay had mobilized national and local papers and radio stations to carry his surveys showing Nograles grabbing as much as 90 percent of the votes against Inday Sara.
Of course history would tell that the result of the 2010 elections was a terrible defeat for Nograles’ third attempt to capture City Hall.
We heard that Nograles would attempt to take a fourth crack at City Hall in next year’s elections.
We suggest he abandon the idea.
If the Dabawenyos’ love for DDS is the voice of God, then it is the voice of God that he stop dreaming about making it as city mayor, next year or forever.
Results of the text voting on the ABS/CBN TV Patrol news program strongly favored return of the DDS.
It showed their extreme anger for violent criminals, according to Duterte who dismissed the vote meant the culture of violence is embedded in the Dabawenyos as expressed in their vote crying for the return of the DDS.
To our mind, the DDS vote is similar to the votes the Dabawenyos gave when they chose their leaders in the May elections in 2010.
We agree with Duterte when said he was sure that if all the Dabawenyos are asked, the ratio in the TV Patrol survey between votes for return of DDS against the votes of those who wanted to depend on a stronger police to arrest criminalities, would remain constant.
Duterte said the votes for the DDS would be like the votes in the contest between Inday and Nogie. His daughter Inday, now sitting Mayor Sara Duterte trounced former Speaker Prospero Nograles in the 2010 mayoral battle by more than 220,00 votes.
If the Dabawenyo votes for the DDS is overwhelming so was their dislike for Nograles.
PANGILINAN LAW MOLDING PROTECTING YOUNG HOOLIGANS
Editorial
On breeding young criminals
Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has presented as an exhibit on how the Juvenile Justice Law molds youths into deadly hooligans and protects them from answering for crimes committed— a young man, who claims to be 17-years old, who robbed and shot dead in broad daylight nursing student Marjorie Kwan in Agdao District recently.
He is a product of the Pangilinan law, said Duterte in describing Carlo Maduyag Millado of Barpa, Barangay Leon Garcia, Agdao.
The Juvenile Justice Act authored by Senator Francis Pangilinan could be a saving grace for Millado and free him from answering for his crime.
The Pangilinan law pegged the age of a “minor” at below 18 years old, who is not answerable for any crime committed.
Under the law, a minor could not be charged if he/she lacks “discernment” of the crime committed. Discernment here means that the young criminal should have appreciation of the consequence of the crime on the victim and society. Discernment or lack of it is determined by a special body created for the purpose led by sociologists of the social services bureau.
Duterte is among loud voices demanding that the Pangilinan law be amended for its provisions that protect the violent youth from answering for their crime.
Millado grew up in a village where crime is a habit: drunkenness, robbery, homicide, murder, etc., etc.
He is wise to the world of criminals, having been involved, according to the police blotters according to Duterte, in more than 30 criminal acts from petty to serious.
His latest caper, if he is not covered by the Pangilinan law, would have sent him straight to jail.
Alas, he says he is a minor! The worse that could happen—with the Kwan relatives crying over the killing—would be a stint for Millado, being a ‘minor’, at a halfway house for wayward youths with social workers dishing out lectures about the young being the hope of this blighted Philippines.
Soon, he would be out in the streets again to commit more crimes, with a Xerox copy of his birth certificate showing he is a minor and the Pangilinan law tucked in his pocket to show police the next time he is arrested for killing somebody.
There are many more Millados roaming Davao City today to rob, kill or maim or terrorize society, brazen in their criminal actions due to the Pangilinan law.
And there are many more Kwans waiting to be killed, robbed or maimed by these little demons.
The Pangilinan law bred young criminals and will continue to breed them if its provisions shielding young hooligans from responsibility for their violent acts due to age are not amended.
Should we say that the Dabawenyos are luckier they have the Davao Death Squad to depend on for retribution when the law fail to catch up with the young criminals?
God help us. RMB
‘You live a violent life, you die a violent death’
BY ROGER M. BALANZA
Davao City Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte dished out this morbid warning last week to criminals, as he rushed to the scene of a shoot-out between a robbery suspect and police in Sta. Ana district.
The warning comes as police carry out orders of the vice mayor to wage an all-out campaign against criminals to stop rising crime incidents in the city.
If you live a violent life, you die a violent death, said Duterte as he was interviewed by media after congratulating the police for a “job well done.”
Duterte arrived at the scene even as the smell of gunpowder and gun smoke hang in the air, with the bullet riddled dead body of the suspect lying with his gun in an alley.
The suspect had held up a victim but bystanders alerted elements of the Sta. Ana Police precinct.
Seven people have since died from separate shootings carried out by motorcycle-rising gunmen suspected to belong to the Davao Death Squad said to be police-backed and unleashed on a vigilante mission against criminals.
Armed motorcycle-riding robbers have victimized several persons the past weeks, capped with the robbery-killing of nursing student Marjorie Kwan in Agdao.
The broad daylight outcry triggered massive public calls for the return of the DDS, which had lain low for sometime, as crime incidents rose up to alarming levels.
The DDS is blamed for summary executions of of suspected criminals since the middle 90s.
Human rights groups pegged the number of victims at more than 1000.
The extrajudicial killings sparked an investigation for human rights violation by the Commission on Human Rights which tried to link Duterte and the police to the shadowy gunmen.
